Potluck Ponderings

A FORTY-ith birthday party!  I couldn't believe it...nothing makes a girl's funk subside like feeling all that LOVE!  What a wonderful thing...and I REALLY was surprised.  Everyone involved had me convinced there would be no celebration.  My best friends took me out to dinner one night this week to "celebrate" at our favorite Japanese Restraunt (and had the waiters sing to me!), which was great and fun and the highlight of my week...donchya'll know.  I thought that was it.  Sweet Hubs said, "oh, we could go out to dinner if you really want to"...and reminded me of how busy our weekend was going to be.  I was like "never mind..."  "I'll be fine...I will not pout!"  Nothing like being old and grumpy!  and all the while....all the friends who kept asking me what was wrong KNEW that I was getting ready to be got! And it was one of the sweetest surprises of my life...and as I rounded the corner and spied the balloons and decorations...

The best part about Em's soccer this year is the color of the uniforms, haha!!  She's having fun and I got some great shots... and this is what happens to brothers who have to wait for a soccer game to be over...

  I don't know exactly why I'm in a funk...it makes no sense.  There are a thousand possible reasons why, yet no single one I can tighten my fingers around.  I always get sad and miss my momma, really all my family-.of-origin, on my birthday...when changes are sensed I long to run for the Hills (the TN hills) I start thinking about all the people who've come into (and some ultimately out of) my life...the bittersweetness of those friendships...those times...I get sentimental and feel urgency in letting everyone know what they've meant in my life. Abandonment has been a big theme that God has used over and over again in my life...the reality of being abandoned by those in life who should love the most...the fear of the possiblility of it...the acceptance that I may be abandoned by everyone but Him. I AM kinda tired, been staying up too late and running too much.  The van needs tires...we need to decide about a smaller car Joe has looked at for better gas mileage.....

I'm fourty...what a busy countdown week.  Wednesday was about all I thought I could handle...but then we ended up in the emergency department of our local hospital for a few hours getting these in Nate: After getting this done for the girl on Wednesday: Friday really was an uneventful follow up to all those activities.  Friday night was small group at church.  We had a great discussion and I think everyone seemed to be in a great mood.  We're wrapping up our current study and will be starting The Prodigal God, by Tim Keller which I'm very excited about reading and discussing. A baby shower followed on Saturday for a little sweet miss...lots of pink, lots of fun, lots of laughter...and pink punch.  I love it when the ladies get together...and it's so much sweeter now. Our pastor's wife did a devotion about mothering daughters that I'm still pondering...and want to read the book some of the ideas came from.  A thought I keep turning around is that ...

I've never known how to cook fish, so it's been a work in progress...so here's a new recipe that's a keeper!  The kids loved it...and I served it with wild rice and steamed veggies...couldn't get any healthier than this!